Benefits of cherishing your possessions. When my daughter was little and we struggled with single-parent poverty, I learned that taking good care of everything we had—“prizing” or cherishing my possessions—helped us both enjoy them more. When I read the Bible verse above for the first time so long ago, I worked four patient weeks to clear out the clutter, clean, polish, and then invest in a few inexpensive furnishings. A gingham tablecloth on our card table-dining table, matching place mats and artificial flowers turned our dining corner of the kitchen into an island of beauty for Sharon’s ten-year-old eyes and my grateful ones.

“Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds” (anonymous). A few weeks ago I looked around my tiny apartment and realized I had failed to “prize my possessions” for far too long. I had excused my laziness by thinking, “No matter what I do it still looks like a storage unit because boxes have to be stacked along nearly every wall.” It stung when I remembered the first part of the Bible verse quoted above “The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.”

Ouch! Since then, I’ve been working to tidy things up and clear out accumulated clutter. It will take a while to finish but already I’m feeling less stressed. Read the article from Psychology Today at the link below to see why.

http://bit.ly/1CYoFrU

Amazing, isn’t it? I’m so grateful my loving heavenly Father gently, but firmly, reminded me of one no-cost way I can make my life more peaceful. And who can put a price on peace?